Global Witness - Breaking the links between natural resources, conflict and corruption
Combating Conflict Diamonds
View latest releases on conflict diamonds
Global Witness is working to prevent diamonds from fuelling conflict, human rights abuses and terrorism.
The illicit trade in rough diamonds is one of the greatest threats facing the Kimberley Process certification scheme. Six years afters the scheme's creation, the trafficking of conflict and illicit stones is looking more like a dangerous rule than an exception.
The campaign to combat conflict diamonds is calling for the government-run Kimberley Process Diamond Certification Scheme to be strengthened. The Kimberley Process must require strong government diamond controls that are fully enforced to make sure the diamond industry is not trading in conflict diamonds. The diamond industry as a whole must change the way it operates, and become more transparent and accountable.
Read our closing statement from the Namibia Plenary, November 2009
Read the press release issued ahead of the Namibia Plenary, November 2009
Read more about illicit diamonds and the Kimberley Process in this report from October 2008
Conflict Diamonds
Conflict diamonds, also known as blood diamonds, are diamonds that are used by rebel groups to fuel conflict and civil wars. They have funded brutal conflicts in Africa that have resulted in the death and displacement of millions of people. Diamonds have also been used by terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda to finance their activities and for money-laundering purposes.
Only a few African economies have actually benefited from diamonds, while Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Liberia and Sierra Leone are still recovering from widespread devastation resulting from wars fuelled by diamonds. Diamonds are being smuggled out of the rebel-held north of Cote d'Ivoire and out of eastern DRC, and continue to be used for money laundering, tax evasion and organized crime.
Global Witness and the Combating Conflict Diamond Campaign
Global Witness' ‘Combating Conflict Diamonds' campaign, launched in 1998, exposed the role of diamonds in funding conflict. This put the diamond industry, previously shrouded in secrecy, into the international spotlight. Growing international pressure from Global Witness and other NGOs demanded that governments and the diamond trade take action to eliminate the trade in conflict diamonds.
In response, in May 2000, the major diamond trading and producing countries, representatives of the diamond industry, and NGOs met in Kimberley, South Africa to determine how to tackle the conflict diamond problem. The meeting, hosted by the South African government, was the start of an important and often contentious three-year negotiating process to establish the Kimberley Process, an international diamond certification scheme. Global Witness continues to campaign for the effective implementation of the Kimberley Process to help ensure that diamonds can never again fuel conflict and can become a positive force for development.
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Latest Publications
September 2010
Global Witness stands by findings on Sudanese oil data
Global Witness today refuted claims that it had apologized for the findings of its September 2009 report, Fuelling Mistrust, on the lack of transparency in Sudan's oil sector. The organisation said that although very important commitments on improving transparency were made recently by the Government of National Unity (GoNU), the full disclosure of oil revenue data and the results of an independent audit remain necessary to prove the concerns were unfounded.
August 2010
Global Witness welcomes Norwegian government disinvestment from predatory loggers Samling
Global Witness welcomes the Norwegian Government Pension Fund's decision to disinvest from the notorious Malaysian timber giant Samling. Global Witness has previously exposed illegal logging by Samling in Cambodia as well as evidence of legal breaches by two Samling-associated companies in Liberia.
Global Witness welcomes new commitment to transparency in Sudan
Global Witness has participated in a landmark seminar on oil revenue transparency in Khartoum, organised by the Sudanese government and attended by foreign oil companies. We welcome the commitment to increase transparency, including an audit of the oil sector and publication of key production and revenue figures.
Global Witness applauds RBS penalty over terrorist financing
Global Witness welcomes the decisive action taken by the UK financial regulator, the FSA, which has fined the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) £5.6 million for failing to check whether its customers were on the UK terrorist sanctions list.
Campbell testimony shines light on blood diamonds and the importance of international justice
Global Witness is attending the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor in The Hague as supermodel Naomi Campbell is called to testify. The event offers a useful reminder of the role of natural resources in funding conflict, and of the importance of pursuing justice for the victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
